How Phantom of the Opera Should Have Ended
by majormiryti
Summary: Sometimes movies and musicals don't end the way we want them to. This...is how Phantom should have ended.


Christine had had a rough day.

First, she'd had to be the lead in the Phantom's opera, the bait to draw him out into the open. Fortunately, it had worked.

Unfortunately, the Phantom had kidnapped her, taken her to his underground lair—which, frightened as she was, she still had to admit it was pretty nice—and he'd set the theatre on fire in the process. Raoul had come heroically to save her, but the Phantom had tied him up and was choking him with a noose.

If she chose Raoul, the Phantom would kill him.

If she chose the Phantom, he'd let Raoul go, but she could never be with him ever again.

One could say that Christine had a dilemma.

She slowly walked down the stairs towards the Phantom, starting to sing as her feet touched the water. As she looked deeply into his eyes, she slipped and tumbled into the sewer water, hitting her head on one of the steps. Sputtering, she came back up and regained her composure. If Raoul had not been tied up, he would have slapped his forehead.

The Phantom raced over to her, momentarily forgetting his prisoner. "Christine! Are you alright?!"

Christine gazed into his eyes. "I…I love you."

For the first time in years, the Opera Ghost was rendered speechless.

Raoul banged his head on the bars behind him. "I think I'll go die now."

The Phantom found his voice again. "Do you mean it?"

Christine nodded. "Yes, of course!"

The Phantom slapped his forehead and started pacing around his lair. "Stupid girl!"

Raoul was, for once, completely silent.

Christine tilted her head. "What's wrong?"

The Phantom quit pacing and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Christine, I'm not sure how to put this, but you're…wishy-washy. First you love me, then you love Raoul, then me, then you get _engaged_ to him, then _just now _you say you love _me!_ Make up your blasted _mind, _woman! If you even _have_ one!"

Just then, a group of opera folk stormed up to the gate Raoul was tied to, led by Meg. "Christine!" she cried. "Are you alright?"

The Phantom pointed to Meg. "Meg over there is the _only one_ with any sort of brain around here! And because of that…I love her more."

Christine's jaw dropped.

Meg blushed.

Raoul remained silent.

The Phantom raised the gate, and Meg ran to him and handed him his mask. "But you're not that hideous…not really."'

He put his mask back on. "Thank you, my angel, but I prefer to remain hidden, lurking in the shadows."

"What about me?" Christine asked pitifully. "_I_ was your angel of music, and you were mine!"

The Phantom gave her a look. "Until _he_ came back." He picked up a candle and dropped it onto a stack of papers near her. "You should have listened to me, Christine."

For once, Christine had a smart thought: she jumped up and started trying to stamp out the fire.

"Just throw it in the water!" Raoul called. Somehow, he had managed to escape and was now slogging over to his fiancée.

"I can't!"

"Why not?!"

"It'll burn my hands!"

Raoul rolled his eyes. He was beginning to have some serious second thoughts about marrying Christine.

The opera folk were standing back, watching the scene in a mix of abject horror and twisted amusement.

The Phantom and Meg had taken this opportunity to retrieve his gondola from where he kept it hidden. Meg was sitting in front holding a music box with a monkey on it, while the Phantom was moving the boat with a long pole.

Raoul was literally steps away from helping Christine put out the spreading fire when—

_WHACK!_ The Phantom hit him over the head with the pole. "And _that_ is enough of you."

Christine screamed, partially because of Raoul's death, but mostly because her dress had caught on fire.

"Jump, Christine!" Someone called as the Phantom and Meg made their escape-by-gondola.

"I can't swim!"

And then, they were out of hearing range.

Meg looked up at the Phantom, the Opera Ghost who had haunted them for so long. "I never believed that you existed, you know."

"I know."

"I always thought you were a myth."

"I know."

She frowned. "Were you stalking me, too?"

The Phantom allowed himself a small smile. "No."

"Then how—"

"I must have _some_ secrets left, Meg."

"Oh."

There was silence as the Phantom kept pushing the boat along. Then—

"You do realize you're going to have to find a new theatre to haunt."

"I suppose…" He began humming a tune, and gradually, Meg began adding words and singing along.

And so they were, together as it should have been, making the music of the night.

_~fin~_

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**A/N: Saw Phantom for the first time the ****other night.  
Had a Monster energy drink the next day.  
'Nuff said.**


End file.
